Lori and Corey Cole's
Quest for Glory was always one of my favorite franchises. It set unusually logical puzzle-solving (by adventure-game standards — no “THROW BRIDLE AT SNAKE” here) in culturally distinct worlds that went beyond the usual D&D boilerplate. Even in
Quest for Glory I, which eased players into the series with a traditional medieval setting, the sense of place was richer than usual. (My favorite detail: a frost giant from north of the Germanic game-world speaks in the alliterative verse of Beowulf.)
But
Quest for Glory II must've blindsided fans of the first game. Expanding the small-scale campaign of
QfGI into a world-saving epic, it also transported the hero from a sleepy European valley to the full-sized Arabian city of Shapeir. In all the hype about
GTAIV earlier this year, I couldn't help thinking that
QfGII had done the same thing decades before — not at the same scale, but with as much attention to detail.
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